Prison Gangs In Arkansas

13% of state’s inmates also gang members, officials say
BY CHARLIE FRAGO
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Enough gang members are incarcerated in Arkansas to fill their own prison, with every major national gang represented behind bars, corrections officials said at a national conference in Little Rock on Tuesday. About 13 percent of the state’s 13,420 inmates — or about 1,750 inmates — are members of more than a dozen national gangs, including Bloods, Crips, Nazi Low Riders, Black Guerilla Family, Latin Kings and the Hispanic-based Surreno 13, prison officials estimate.

While white supremacist groups and the mostly black Gangster Disciples are the largest groups — each with several hundred members — recent signs of growth in female and Hispanic gangs have officials bracing for future disruptions. "We have the same problems everyone else does. They’re not going to change their behavior because they’re locked up," said Sgt. Wallace McNary, who tracks prison gangs at the East Arkansas Regional Unit in Lee County.

Arkansas’ prison gang problem is still not as widespread as it is in some states. According to estimates, for instance, between 60 percent and 70 percent of inmates in California prisons are involved with gangs. But with a growing prison population in Arkansas and the recent appearance of Hispanic gangs like the Mexican Mafia, officials say they want to keep on top of the problem.

"The main thing to do is to keep your finger on the pulse," said Dina Tyler, spokesman for the Department of Correction. "You don’t want to look up and your prisons are full of gang members."

Prisons officials have identified 30 inmates as belonging to the Mexican Mafia, but more are expected as the Hispanic population grows in the state. The women’s McPherson Unit has at least 55 members from at least five different gangs.

Gangs can lead to increased contraband and violence behind bars, experts say, and members are more likely to end up incarcerated again. Nationally, prison gangs are a major problem that isn’t going away anytime soon, said George W. Knox, director of the National Gang Crime Research Center in Peotone, Ill.

Knox conducted a survey of every state prison system except Rhode Island’s in 2004 and found that on average about 25 percent of inmates are gang members. Earlier this month, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted two men who had become members of a terrorist cell while in a California prison. After their arrest, the FBI ordered its field offices to investigate possible terrorist activities among inmates in state and federal prisons across the country. Tyler has said that there have been no signs of terrorist recruiting among prison gangs or other inmates in Arkansas prisons, but that the department is cooperating with the FBI in assessing the inmate population.

Some prison gangs, although boasting few members, attract special attention from prison officials and inmates alike. There are only four inmates in state prison who belong to the Nazi Low Riders, but when one of those inmates arrives at an institution, everyone knows, Mc-Nary said. The gang has a reputation for extreme violence and avid recruiting, he said, and "inmates stop and stare. There’s a parting of the sea."

The National Major Gang Task Force, an Indianapolis organization that trains and educates law enforcement agencies about gangs, held its 11th annual conference at the Peabody Little Rock hotel. The Correction Department sent 125 employees, from correctional officers to Director Larry Norris, to learn about topics as diverse as Hispanic gangs, uncovering prison gang drug rings and interpreting gang tattoos.

This story was published Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Copyright © 2005, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.